DHL just had its best quarter in years. Now it’s spending that cash like it means it.
In Q2 2026, the group posted €22.4bn in revenue — up 13% year-on-year — and operating profit jumped 30% to €1.9bn. Full-year guidance has already been raised to over €6.5bn. That’s not a blip. That’s a company firing on all cylinders while its competitors are still navigating geopolitical headwinds.
The numbers worth bookmarking:
- Revenue: €22.4bn (+13% YoY)
- Operating profit: €1.9bn (+30% YoY)
- FY26 operating profit guidance: >€6.5bn
- Countries and territories served: 220+
China, But Bigger
DHL’s biggest move: a €177m investment into its Shenzhen “Super Gateway” — the largest single investment it has ever made in mainland China. The expanded hub, located at Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport, has tripled daily processing capacity to around 900 tons and will create more than 1,000 jobs.
Pairing that with a brand-new freighter route linking Shanghai, Bangkok, Bahrain, and Brussels — adding up to 50 tons of daily capacity — and DHL has effectively stitched together Asia, the Middle East, and Europe into one tighter loop.
The LATAM Play
On the other side of the world, DHL Global Forwarding has acquired Aero Cargas S.A., a Uruguay-based freight forwarder with 58 years of experience and a 33-year working relationship with DHL. This gives DHL its first direct presence in Uruguay — a country that moves over $1bn worth of pharmaceuticals annually and acts as a re-export hub for North American and European goods heading further into Latin America.
As Oscar de Bok, CEO of DHL Global Forwarding, put it: “Latin America is becoming increasingly important as companies diversify supply chains and strengthen regional distribution networks.”
Looking Ahead
DHL is building infrastructure ahead of demand — not in response to it. With supply chain diversification accelerating globally, operators re-routing away from traditional lanes will find DHL’s expanded network increasingly hard to ignore. The question isn’t whether DHL is positioned for the next decade of trade. It’s whether your supply chain is positioned to take advantage of it.